St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in Smithfield, is a magnificent structure of atone, consisting of four piles of building that surround an open court. This vast establishment, capable of containing 500 beds, has, in the course of one year only, afforded relief to above 1000 patients.
Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844
BARTHOLOMEW'S (ST.) HOSPITAL, the earliest institution of the kind in London, was part of the priory of St. Bartholomew, founded A.D. 1102. by Rahere, the first prior. He designed it "Ad omnes pauperes infirmos ad idem hospitale confluentes quosque de infirmatibus suis convaluerint, ac mulieres praegnantes quosque de puerperio surrexerint, necnon ad omnes pueros de eisdem mulieribus intra hospitale praedictum decesserint." [see St. Bartholomew the Great] The executors of Richard Whittington, the celebrated Mayor, repaired Hospital about the year 1423, and at the dissolution of religious houses, Henry VIII, at the petition of Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor and father of Sir Thomas Gresham, founded it anew as an Hospital "for the continual relief and help of an hundred sore and distressed," being "moved thereto with great pity for and towards the relief and succour and help of the poor, aged, sick, low, and impotent people ... lying and going about begging in the common streets of the city of London, and the suburbs of the same," and "infected with divers great and horrible sicknessses and diseases." The immediate superintendence of the Hospital was committed at first to Thomas Vicary, Serjeant-Surgeon to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, and author of The Englishman's Treasure, the first work on anatomy published in the English language. Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, was Physician to the Hospital for thirty-four years, (1609-1643), and the rules which he laid down for the duties of medical officers of the Hospital were adhered to for nearly a century after his retirement. * (*Records of Harvey; in extracts from the Journals of the Royal Hospital of St. Bartholomew With notes by James Paget. 8vo. 1846) The date of the actual commencement of a Medical School is unknown; but in 1662, students were in the habit of attending the medical and surgical practice; and, in 1667, their studies were assisted by the formation of a Library "for the use of the Governors and young University scholars." A building for a Museum of Anatomical and Chirurgical Preparations was provided in 1724, and placed under the Surgeon to the Hospital; and, in 1734, leave was granted for any of Surgeons, or Assistant-Surgeons, "to read Lectures in Anatomy in the dissecting-room of the Hospital." The first Surgeon who availed himself of this permission was Mr. Edward Nourse, whose anatomical lectures, delivered for many years or near the Hospital, were followed, in 1765, and for many years after, by courses of Lectures on Surgery from his former pupil and prosector, Perceval Pott; and about the same time, Dr. William Pitcairn, and subsequently Dr. Daivd Pitcairn, successively Physicians to the Hospital, delivered lectures, probably occasional ones, on Medicine. Further additions to the course of instruction were made by Mr. Abernethy, who was elected Assistant-Surgeon in 1787, and by whom, with the assistance of Drs. William and David Pitcairn, the principal lectures of the present day were established. Abernethy lectured on Anatomy, Physiology and Surgery, in a theatre erected for him by the Governors in 1791, and his high reputation attracting so great a body of students it was found necessary, in 1822, to erect a new and larger Anatomical Theatre. The progress of science and the extension of medical education in the last twenty years have led to the institution of additional lectureships on the subjects auxiliary to Medicine, and on new and important applications of it; and further facilities have been afforded for instruction. In 1835, the Anatomical Museum was considerably enlarged, a new Medical Theatre was built, and Museums of Materia Medica and Botany were founded; and at the same time, the Library was removed to the present building, and enriched by liberal contributions. In 1834, the Medical Officers and Lecturers commenced the practice of offering Prizes and Honorary Distinctions for superior knowledge displayed at the annual examinations of their classes; and in 1845, four scholarships were founded, each tenable for three years, and of the annual value of 45l. and 50l., with the design not only of encouraging learning, but of assisting Students to prolong their attendance beyond the usual period, on the medical and surgical practice of the Hospital. In 1843, the Governors founded a Collegiate Establishment, to afford the Pupils the moral advantages, together with the comfort and convenience, of a residence with the walls of the Hospital, and to supply them with ready guidance and assistance in their studies. The chief officer of the College is called the Warden. The President of the Hospital must have served the office of Lord Mayor. The qualification of a Governor is a donation of 100 guineas. The great quadrangle was built by James Gibbs, the architect of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and the first stone laid June 9th 1730. The gate towards Smithfield was built in 1702, and the New Surgery in 1842. This Hospital gives relief to all poor persons suffering from accident or diseases, either as in-patients or out-patients. Cases of all kinds are received into the Hospital, including diseases of the eyes, distortions of the limbs, and all other infirmities which can be relieved by medicine or surgery. Accidents, or cases of urgent disease, may be brought without any letter of recommendation or other formality at all hours of the day or night to the Surgery, where there is a person in constant attendance, and the aid of the Resident Medical Officers can be instantly obtained. General admission-day, Thursday at 11 o'clock. Petitions for admission to be obtained at the Steward's Office, any day, between 10 and 2. Any other information may be obtained from the porter at the gate. The Hospital contains 580 beds, and relief is afforded to 70,000 patients annually. The in-patients are visited daily by the Physicians and Surgeonsl; and during the summer session, four Clinical Lectures are delivered weekly. The out-patients are attended daily by the Assistant-Physicians and Assistant-Surgeons. Students can reside within the Hospital walls, subject to the rules of the Collegiate system, established under the direction of the Treasurer and a Committee of Governors of the Hospital. Some of the teachers and other gentlemen connected with the Hospital also receive Students to reside with them. Further information may be obtained from the Medical or Surgical Officers or Lecturers, or at the Anatomical Museum or Library. The greatest individual benefactor to the Hospital was the celebrated Dr. Radcliffe, who left the yearly sum of 500l. for ever, towards mending the diet of the Hospital, and the further sum of 100l. for ever, for the purchase of linen. Observe.- Portrait of Henry VIII. in the Court Room, esteemed an original, though not by Holbein; Portrait of Dr. Radcliffe, by Kneller; good Portrait of Perceval Pott, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; fine portrait of Abernethy, by Sir T. Lawrence. The Good Samaritan, and The Pool of Bethesda, on the grand staircase, were painted gratuitously by Hogarth, for which he was made a governor for life; the subjects are surrounded with scroll-work, painted at Hogarth's expense by Mr. Richards.
Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850
see also William Acton in Prostitution - click here
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S,
West Smithfield, founded by Rahere, in 1102, enlarged by Whittington, and
incorporated in the reign of Henry VIII., in 1546, is a handsome and capacious
edifice of stone, after the designs of Gibbs, surrounding a square, and situated
between Christ's Hospital and Smithfield, on the site of the ancient priory of
St. Bartholomew. The principal entrance (erected in 1702), in Smithfield, is
through a large arch in a rustic basement, over which is placed a bust of Henry
VIII. Above is an interrupted semi-circular pediment, on whose segments recline
two figures emblematical of lameness and sickness, The whole surmounted by a
triangular pediment, whose tympanum is ornamented with the royal arms. Any
persons suffering from serious accidents or illness are admitted into this
hospital at any hour of the day or night, without previous recommendation. The
interior arrangements are convenient and ample; the professional attendance is
able, well divided, and abundant; the nurses and attendants are kind, humane,
and numerous; and the greatest order and propriety reign throughout the whole.
This institution affords an excellent practical school of medicine and surgery
for young men who "walk the hospitals." There is also a
"theatre," where lectures are delivered to the students by eminent
practitioners.
The grand staircase was painted gratuitously by Hogarth; the
subjects very appropriate: The Good Samaritan; the Pool of Bethesda; Rahere (the
founder) laying the First Stone; and a Sick Man carried on a Bier attended by
Monks. In the great hall is a portrait of Henry VIII., and another of Dr.
Radcliffe, who left 600l. per annum towards improving the diet and linen
of the patients. Here is also a picture of St. Bartholomew, with the symbol of
his martyrdom in his hand. One of the windows is illustrated by the
representation of Henry VIII. delivering the charter to the Lord Mayor. The
expenses of this hospital are nearly 35,000l. per year. The number of
in-patients received last year was nearly 6000, and out.-patients upwards of
105,000. In the reign of Henry VIII. the hospital expenditure was 800l.
yearly; in 1660 it had increased to 2000l.; and in 1730 to 10,000l.
There are now 22 wards, each with 20 beds ; but 640 in-patients can be
conveniently accommodated. Abernathy and the great Harvey have been among the
physicians and surgeons who have laboured at St. Bartholomew's.
Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865
Victorian London - Publications - Social Investigation/Journalism - Unsentimental Journeys; or Byways of the Modern Babylon, by James Greenwood, 1867
PREFACE.
CROPPING up in the book-field, modest and unpretending as
any sprig of sorrel or chickweed that ever sprouted, this book at least claims
an advantage over other books in the matter of Preface.
Commonly, a Preface is like a finger-post set up in a
toll-road, on which you first pay for the privilege of travelling, and then are
allowed to judge for yourself whether the way indicated will suit you, or
whether it will be more profitable to turn back, forfeiting the money you paid
at the gate, and striking into another path in search of "pastures
new." The advantage alluded to as attaching to this book, consists in the
fact that its preface is fully contained in the title imprinted on the back of
it. There is no more to be said about it. It is simply a collection of personal
observation of experience yielded in the course of two-score or so of as
unsentimental journeys as ever were undertaken by the most ordinary tramp. The
collection is the result, not of a labour of love purely-although, of course, a
liking for the subject was the prime inducement for entering on its
investigation,-but of down-right, jog-trot journey-work.
The reader who regards elegance of style in an author as
the first essential is respectfully warned that herein it is wanting-so
completely, in fact, that it is scarcely worth while to mention it; it would
have been discovered as quickly. If, however, the indulgent reader will deign to
accept scrupulous honesty and plain, outspoken truth in lieu of varnish and
elaboration, he may depend on fair dealing at the hands of his obedient servant,
THE AUTHOR.
I. THE HOSPITAL-GATE.
THE notice-board at the gate notifies to all who may have
come into that inheritance to which we have Shakspeare's authority for declaring
all flesh has title, that the proper time to attend to be mulct as far as may be
of the said inheritance is between the hours of eleven and one o'clock daily.
Therefore, as the hospital clock chimed the former time, I struck out of
Giltspur Street, and approached the sombre building; not, my lucky stars be
thanked, as one needing aid of surgeon or apothecary, but to see one of the most
melancholy and instructive pictures to be met in London's length and breadth.
Being an intruder, and not disposed to flaunt my healthfulness to the dull and
sorrowing gaze of those who clustered at the portal, I took my station in the
shadowy lee of a fragrant hay waggon, and, sitting down on the deserted shaft of
it, secured a fair view of up the street and down the street, and across the
road.
THE
QUADRANGLE, ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL. Although the great Quadrangle of St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
Smithfield, only dates from 1730 Gibbs being the architect, the Hospital itself
is the oldest in London. The founder was Rahere, minstrel to Henry I , and first
prior of St. Bartholomew's, of which the Hospital formed part. "Dick"
Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, enlarged the place, which was re-established
by Henry VIII. ten years after the suppression of the monasteries. The income of
"Bart's," as the Hospital is commonly called, is ?50,000 a rear, and
in the course of twelve months some 7,000 in-patients, who as they become
convalescent take the air in the pleasant open space shown in out picture,
receive treatment, besides nearly 180,000 out patients. Harvey and Abernethy are
among the famous men who hare been connected with this Hospital. ST.
BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL: THE WEST ENTRANCE. The western gate of St. Bartholomew's Hospital looks out upon the
stone-paved, noisy neighbourhood of the London Central Meat Market. Over the
gate, which was built in 1702, is a statue of Henry VIII., who was induced to
re-establish the institution when the monasteries were suppressed; and the
semi-recumbent figures represent respectively a sick man and a cripple. The
church behind the gate is St. Bartholomew's-the-Less, founded, with the Hospital
itself, by Rahere early in the twelfth century, but rebuilt in 1823. The tower
of the much more interesting church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great rises to the
left of our picture, beyond the circular road leading beneath the market. The
building to the left of the gate is the casualty and out-patients' department of
the Hospital.
I experienced little difficulty in distinguishing from
among the pedestrians who thronged the pavement they who had business with Saint
Bartholomew; for the notice- board, among other things, particularly stipulated
that "patients must provide themselves with gallipots and bottles ;"
and, as a rule, the pale ones, and the lame ones, and they who were led because
they could not see, were so provided. Gracious me! what a leveller of pride is
Death's lieutenant, Sickness ! Here comes Jones, worthy man, meekly bearing his
gallipot, wrapped in paper, it istrue, but palpably a gallipot, whereas, if he
were unafflicted and free to perform as usual the diurnal journey out and home
from Islington to the City, he would go dinnerless rather than be the bearer of
his own mutton chop. Likewise comes estimable Mr. Robinson, who, before his
system was shocked beyond the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, disdained
to carry so vulgar an article as a gingham umbrella (perhaps that is how he
caught his rheumatism, poor man), now exhibits, peeping from the tail-pocket of
his coat, the throat of the quart bottle that is to contain his
"mixture."
The respectable Browns or Joneses, however, are scarcely
fair samples of the patrons of Saint Bartholomew: if their ailments are not very
severe, their "regular" doctor will set them right for a pound or so,
and they can afford to pay it, Neither is the wan army recruited specially from
the squalid, loud-mouthed poverty of the City; it is the latter! that obstructs
the doorway and invades the narrow limits of the "parish" surgery, for
the most cogent reason that bread and meat may be included in the parochial
M.D.'s prescriptions, and lazy father's bad foot, or sister Polly's asthma be
thus made a source of income rather than of impoverishment to the entire family.
It is chiefly those whom no amount of hunger would induce to beg a loaf that
demand hospital relief; who would go empty and thinly clad, and no more dream of
applying at a workhouse for alms than they would dream of assuaging their
distress by a larcenous onslaught on their neighbours' goods. The horny-handed
ones are these, and the horny-handed ones' wives, who while they can work will,
and at whose door, while health holds good, "the wolf," or its shadow
even, is unknown. It is sickness alone that gives the grim beast ingress; and
there he is allowed to stay, roaming about the house, and ravaging it, plucking
the treasured silk gown from its sacred hiding, the hard-earned watch from the
fob, the Sunday suit from the clothes - chest, the well-worn wedding-ring even
from the lean finger; and the number of the house where the wolf is sojourning
being 31, neither 30 nor 32 have the least suspicion of the fact. Nobody is
aware of it; least of all any gentleman in the neighbourhood whose business it
is to vend advice and healing drugs at a profit. Not a penny of the wolf's
plunderings goes to him. Why should it ? The healing skill to be found at the
hospital is of a higher order than can be bought for a little money, and there
is no taint of pauperism in partaking of the advantage. The hospital is public
property-as proper a place for a man to visit for relief for his malady as the
British Museum or the National Gallery for amusement and instruction, or the
common to play cricket on. So argue the honest endurers of the wolf at number
31, and, without doubt, they are perfectly correct.
Whilst, however, I sit philosophising on the waggon- shaft
the human cluster at the gate has grown thicker. Along the broad steps sit
mothers cuddling to their bosoms sick infants, varying in age from the tiny
creature ignorant of a want beyond to the languid little fellow of four or five
whom affliction has once more reduced to babyhood. Why the mothers sit here I do
not know. Perhaps the gentleman appointed to the sick-baby department has not
yet arrived, or, having arrived, is so besieged with mothers that these
considerate ones prefer sitting in the sun with their darlings till the press
has abated and they can take them in without disturbance. Perhaps, again, having
so nearly reached the terrible place where for their health's sake the poor
little sufferers must be put to pain, mother's tender heart fails her, and she
is obliged to sit thus on the threshold to consider her little one's long-
suffering, and to contemplate its wasting face, to screw her courage for the
final effort.
No wonder if it is so, since from my post of observation I
can see grown men and women, and tall young men and maidens, guilty of the same
weakness. I am quite convinced that the pulling of teeth is not the most painful
operation to which a hospital patient may be subjected; and yet, of all who
" hang on and off," as the nautical phrase is, loitering among the
deserted cattle-pens, and looking wistfully and alternately at the grim building
and at the road that tends homeward, the ones with bandaged jaws numbered most.
Of course their case is veryhard (having had in my time two grinders extracted
whose decay in no way shook their attachment to me; I know how hard their case
is); but what amount of pity could be spared for them in presence of the
terrible things that everywhere met the eye ? The pains as well as the pleasures
of the world can only be measured by comparison. By the side of a shattered limb
toothache becomes a mere trifle; and, compared with many of the appalling
spectacles to be met within a circuit of a hundred yards of Old Bartholomew any
day between the hours of eleven and two, it becomes less than a trifle-a joke,
and a thing to be laughed at.
Why, within the limit mentioned, I can see a dozen men
who, if the transfer were possible, would accept the most villainous tooth that
ever a mouth was troubled with in exchange for their ailment, and throw in as a
bonus a good year of their lives, chancing how long they would live without it.
Not the worst-looking cases either, some of these. Take, for example, that
elderly man with his arm slung to his neck, and accompanied by his two sons, as
pale and as anxious as himself. How wretchedly cheerful the trio are ! How the
eldest of the old fellow's boys, winking sternly at the younger to be sure and
countenance the dreadful fib he is about to relate, launches into the
particulars of a "case "-a terrible case, compared with which father's
is the merest cat-scratch-in which, thanks to the blessed application of
chloroform, the limb was shorn, the patient dreaming the pleasantest dreams the
while! And the good old boy, to comfort the young ones, affects the most perfect
belief in the story, and even essays a ghastly little joke on the subject, while
all the time his heart is at freezing-point through thinking that if the
amputation of those blessed fingers should cost him his life, what a woful thing
it will be for Polly (his wife) and the three little ones. But there is no help
for it; he will surely die unless he submits to the terrible ordeal; so, just a
tiny nip of brandy to keep his courage up, and in he goes, the boys looking
after him almost as people look when the undertaker's man, twiddling his
screwdriver, observes, with professional melancholy, "Would any other
member of the family like," &c. "Room there, you about the gate!
Ring the bell, boy, will you?" Not the least occasion. The liveried porter,
hearing the hasty wheels, has just peeped out to see a cab, with a policeman
descending from the driving- seat, and the next moment makes his appearance with
a companion, the two carrying a "stretcher." "Slater off a
roof!" exclaims the policeman, shortly; and, gently handled by a dozen
willing hands, as though he were a baby, the pallid man, with his great, dirty,
labouring hands, and the slating-nails dropping from his jacket- pocket and
tinkling on the pavement, is borne through the gate to have his shattered bones
set and be brought to life again, if the ripest skill in the kingdom can
accomplish the doubtful business.
One thing is certain. The shattered slater will not pine
to death in his ward from lack of company. No trade is better represented in the
accident ward than that of house-building. If I was in the life-assurance line I
think I would almost as soon lease the life of a soldier as of a house-painter,
a bricklayers' labourer, or a slater. I think I would quite as soon do it, and I
do not believe I should be out of pocket by it. In his battle for bread the
latter risks his life equally with the former, who fights his country's battles.
Where is the difference ? One man in the ranks with his comrades may catch a
bullet in his carcass; the other, sprawling on a slippery slant, with a clear
descent of forty feet to the street stones, is at the mercy of a rotten rope or
a sudden wind. The soldier, sword in hand, pitted against another soldier,
fights for his life; the house-painter, a-top of a fifty-round ladder, may at
any minute of his working days be seized with a vertigo, or the first drunken
booby that comes up the street may stumble against the ladder's foot, and the
poor painter in an instant make a swift descent to certain death. In one respect
the soldier has the advantage; for whereas at least half his life is spent in
consuming his rations, pipeclaying his leathers, and washing his shirts, the
poor slater begins his battles with his apprenticeship, and continues them till
he becomes too old and decrepit to mount a ladder.
It is wonderful how one grows used to horrors. Shortly
after the commotion (very slight it was) consequent on the slater's arrival had
subsided, there came in succession two " run-overs" and an Irish
person severely wounded on the head with a drinking-vessel. I was enabled,
however, to regard the ugly scene with perfect equanimity, and even cast about
me for something more interesting. I didn't look in vain. At some distance from
the casual gate there is another, and about this was a group expectant,
evidently, from the way in which, every few seconds, they peered up the archway
in which a beadle kept sentry. I was too far off to hear what they said, but
presently one, who happened to be watching at a moment when no one else was,
made a sudden observation, and then the whole party eagerly turned and looked
too, and it was easy enough to see, by the way in which all the lips moved, that
" Here he comes ! "was uttered by them all.
Who was "he"? A tall young fellow, with lanky
legs, very thin, and with a delicate, newly-made-looking face. These were his
most remarkable points, as far as I could judge; but the watchers at the gate
saw more than this plainly, or they would never have made such a fuss with him.
He didn't come out alone. There was with him a little elderly woman, who held
his hand in hers, as though afraid of losing him the moment they reached the
corner of the street; while, at the same time, one was made aware, by the little
woman's bright, brimming eyes, that a more cruel thing could scarcely happen. No
sooner, however, did the odd pair approach the group than a man with grey hair
and spectacles, and a little taller than the little woman, seized the lank young
man by the disengaged hand, and for a moment seemed inclined to wrestle with the
old lady for possession of the prize. This, however, the old lady appeared to
object to, not unkindly, however, for she first shook hands with the old fellow
in a queer sort of way, and then, turning broadside on to the slender young man,
clutched at his neck, and, pulling his face down to hers (he seemed very supple,
poor fellow!) kissed him, till he with the spectacles exclaimed in an ashamed
voice, and quite loud enough for me to hear, "Come, mother, that'll do-in
the street, you know!
If it had not have happened that the way of the curious
party lay in the direction of my hay-waggon, I might have been puzzled till my
dying day to know what it all meant. I was, however, spared that infliction, for
just as they were trooping past I heard the little grey-haired man say,-
"I'm bothered if it isn't, mother ! A year and two
months come the 23rd, and he has grown a foot if a single inch!"
The
year and two months must have been the time the young fellow had lain at Old
Bartholomew's.
Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London :
a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery
of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - The Quadrangle, St. Bartholomew's Hospital